Asia Pacific Records Significant Passenger Traffic Growth in January 2012

The Asia Pacific region showed significant passenger traffic growth at the beginning of 2012.

According to the latest ACI traffic flash report, Asia Pacific recorded a 9.2 % year-on-year growth in January 2012 while the Middle East area recorded 11 %. Abu Dhabi (ABU), Jakarta (CGK), Hong Kong (HKG) and Guangzhou (CAN) all posted gains of over 15 % in passenger numbers for January 2012.

Beijing (PEK) recorded the highest number of passenger traffic in January 2012 with more than 6 million passengers; the other 4 airports with over 4.5 million passengers are Tokyo Haneda (HND), Bangkok (BKK), Hong Kong (HKG) and Dubai (DXB).

As for air freight traffic, primarily due to the Chinese New Year holiday which fell in January this year, one month earlier than usual, Asia Pacific airports have recorded a decrease of 12.6 % in January 2012 compared to January 2011. Middle Eastern airports, however, have shown an increase of 4.4% year-on-year.

The top 5 airports in the region with the highest air freight throughput in January 2012 are Hong Kong (HKG), Shanghai Pudong (PVG), Seoul Incheon (ICN), Dubai (DXB) and Singapore (SIN).

“In 2011, despite the unfortunate events in our region and the global economic instability, the Asia Pacific and Middle East areas recorded positive results in passenger traffic, with an increase of 5.5% and 7.6% respectively compared to 2010,” said ACI Asia Pacific Regional Director Mrs. Patti Chau. “With the encouraging passenger traffic data in January 2012, it looks like this positive trend will continue and it is worth noting that the Asia Pacific region remains one of the drivers of the global passenger traffic growth. However, air freight traffic does not look so promising. Of course, the Chinese New Year is an important factor in the decline in January but we are concerned that the shroud of uncertainty is still hanging over the global air freight market.”

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